Interlocking was located directly under a highway overpass. This is the crossing between the Ex-Cotton Belt portion of the UP Chester Sub. and the Ex-Frisco, BNSF River Sub. just north of Chaffee, MO. Appears the UP train was a southbound, the 2ASMAR 24.

NTSB Launches Go-Team to Missouri to Investigate Collision Between Two Freight Trains That Partially Collapsed a Highway Overpass

May 25, 2013

WASHINGTON -- The National Transportation Safety Board has launched a go-team to investigate this mornings collision and derailment in Scott City, Mo.

At approximately 2:30 AM CDT a Union Pacific freight train and a BNSF freight train collided under a highway overpass causing them to derail and partially collapse the overpass. A post-crash fire was reported.

Senior Rail Investigator Mike Flanigon will serve as the investigator-in-charge. NTSB Board Member Robert L. Sumwalt is accompanying the team and will serve as the principal spokesperson during the on-scene phase of the investigation.

Thoughts and prayers go to those injured in the accident, with hopes for a good and speedy recovery for all.

The Google map link several threads above shows the correct location. It is Rockview Jct., an at-grade diamond crossing of the BNSF ex-Frisco River Sub (St. Louis - Memphis) running north-south (top to bottom in map) and the UP ex-Cotton Belt Chester Sub (East St. Louis, Ill. - Poplar Bluff, Mo.) running east-west (left-right in the map). The small village of Rockview is just to the southeast.

This is about 5 miles west of I-55 and the larger community of Scott City, Mo., to which there are references.

A very, very busy location, especially for UP. Heavy traffic from St. Louis and Chicago to Little Rock, and on to Texas goes through here. It's fortunate there apparently was no hazmat, as a lot of traffic from the Texas "chemical coast" runs through here. The connection leg that you see in the southeast quadrant runs into a long controlled siding called Quarry just to the east of the diamond.

Rockview Jct. is just west of the point where in the past ex-MoPac trains from St. Louis and Chicago went onto Cotton Belt trackage rights after crossing the Mississippi on Thebes Bridge. By the same token, ex-Cotton Belt trains from East St. Louis, which had come down the river valley on the MP and also crossed Thebes Bridge, achieved their home trackage just to the east. The history of that sometimes contentious arrangement was well described by author Fred Frailey in his well-known articles in Trains magazine, and his Blue Streak book.

This will take a while to clean up. Possible detours on the ex- MoPac St. Louis - Poplar Bluff De Soto Sub (Amtrak Texas Eagle route), but they will be limited by the probably small number of qualified crews still on that route, which is lightly trafficked these days.

Extra height cars are unable to go on the DeSoto Sub so this really will bottle things up. The UP was reminded of this a couple of years back when they got a double height autorack stuck under the Southwest Ave. overpass.

I seem to recall that lots of autoracks get rebuilt at DeSoto Shops. Do they always come north on the DeSoto Sub from Poplar Bluff? Of come out of St. Louis via Lesperance Yard and south along the river to Davis Jct., reaching the DeSoto Sub there?

I always call from about 0300-0500 the "witching hour": body is in a circadian trough, temp down etc. so you gotta be on your game (note: this comment is not implying/inferring that either of these crews were not)